This time, not only my fat bullfrog, but also my fish. I raised my fish all summer, they were fat and happy fed em cat food and the grew like weeds .. my genuine plastic fountain was teaming with activity ... Today, Raccoon footprints, fish scales and a little froggie foot is all that is left. Sniff , sniff ... Oh the humanity

Those son-of-a-bitch raccoons are among the world's worst pests. Nothing edible is safe from the bastards. I've been fighting a lengthy battle with one who is after the stuff in my bird feeders. God knows how he jumps (or climbs?) high enough to knock them off the shepherd's hooks, but he does! So I have resorted to bringing the feeders in at dusk, except for the ones with Niger seed in them. The Raccoon is not interested in those. What he's after is the ones with the peanuts and sunflower seeds. He knocks them down somehow, drags them across the lawn, and eats everything in them.

I just have to remember to bring them in every night.

As for the garbage, I have to remember to get up very early on Monday mornings and put it out for collection just before the truck gets there...or he will get into that too.

Raccoons in Orillia = bears in southeastern Alaska. We are officially advised to discontinue bird feeders, including hummingbird feeders, when bears are out of hibernation. It effectively bans feeding birds- because they are not here in the winter.

Bears have keen noses and they are persistent. I remember one friend had their hot tub on a stair landing just below their house- more than 70 steps from the steep hillside below led to the house.

They hung a hummingbird feeder high above the railing so they could watch the colorful darters at their leisure.

A bear came up the steps, climbed upon the railing and pulled down the feeder. He drank the sweet water and cast aside the feeder. Didn't break anything.

If you need advice on how to go about the trapping (placement, camouflage, bait, etc) e-mail me. But be aware that they get real peed off when live trapped and they have teeth/claws you won't want to mess with, so handle the cage carefully.

Yeah. Well, I'm thinking it over. It would be fun having him in the cage. I could tell him what I think of him, make rude gestures, moon him, etc...while being very careful to avoid getting tooooo close. ;-D Then there's the matter of getting him out of the trap too. That might be a little tricky. Perhaps I should just package him up nicely (with airholes), and send him by UPS Express to 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, like I did with that that dead fish last month.

Raccoons are very intelligent and learn fast. So if you're trying to trap them, you just get one chance and that will only work for your first catch. They love KFC chicken but it's not good for them. I suppose you could buy a couple of buckets and do in the entire pack.

KFC chicken isn't good for any lifeform! ;-) Yeah, they're very clever creatures. If I do trap the raccoon, I'll do as 999 suggests, and release him in a wooded area 10 miles out of town...and across the other side of the lake, just for added insurance.

Make a frog bomb, Dan. You get a large rubber frog, fill it with plastic explosive wired to a radio-controlled detonator. Raccoon attempts to eat rubber frog, and you blow him sky high by remote control.